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Don’t Insult a Man

Don’t insult a man. Even if you are fifty rich like Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the exotic red car with the prancing horse, don’t insult a man.

I was fascinated with the Ferrari cars and I don’t like Ford cars until I watch “The 24 Hour War”, a documentary movie from my Amazon Prime subscription. It changed my preference.

Ferrari was the king of motor racing at the Le Mans at beginning of 1960, and Ford motors was a struggling in their sales against GM Corvette in the USA. Ford does not have a sport racing division, and so Henry Ford decided to buy and partner with Ferrari. The negotiations went well between Ferrari and Ford in 1963, until the last minute at the meeting room Enzo said no because he doesn’t want to give up the motorsport side of the business to Ford. After some exchange of cursing words, Enzo got up and went to eat with his lawyer leaving the Ford executives alone. Henry took it as an insult, and with rage he gathered his team, and told them, “Build me a car that will crush Ferrari at Le Mans.”

It took 3 years to beat for Ford to beat Ferrari with its Ford GT 40 Mk II in 1966. The Americans won 4 consecutive times and Ferrari never win since. Ford came back to racing in 2016 with the new GT and took back the crown at Le Mans. Ford started manufacturing the GT which cost around $500K.

-oOo-

Also in 1958, there was a son of a farmer who loved mechanics by the name Ferruccio Lamborghini. His business was farming tractor manufacturer. Image copyright by classicdriver.com (2017)

Ferruccio’s fortune allowed him to acquire a Ferrari car. Being a mechanic he taught the Ferrari had an inferior clutch that needed repairs, and the car was not smooth on the road. In 1963, the same year as Ford was outraged, Ferruccio told Enzo his complaints. Ferrari being the king of luxury car at that time, insulted Lamborghini, “you may be able to drive a tractor but you will never be able to handle a Ferrari properly.” OMG! Those words pierced the heart and mind of Ferruccio who vowed to rival Enzo in the luxury car industry. In less than a year, Lamborghini GT 350 was born in 1964. Today the most expensive Lamborghini is $4.5 million, the Veneno.

A movie titled "Lamborghini – The Legend"is in the making stars Antonio Banderas as Ferruccio Lamborghini while Alec Baldwin will co-star as rival Enzo Ferrari. The film is based on a book from Lamborghini’s son, Tonino.

The year 1965 was when Lamborghini picked up many sales on the luxury cars, and in 1966 when Ford won the Le Mans, it must be a very bad decade for Ferrari.

So, what’s the lesson learned here? Ahh, I’ll leave that to you because...I’m still dreaming…LOL.